Public catch cellphone snatching gang on Marina

According to police, Vijayakumar (26), a resident of Chintadripet, who works for a private mobile store chain, had gone to the Marina beach on Sunday night along with friends. 

When they were behind the Labour Statue, a gang of five youth approached them. One of the gang members took out a knife and demanded Vijayakumar’s mobile phone. 

Vijayakumar raised an alarm and the public rushed to his aid. Sensing danger, the gang tried to run away. The public chased and caught three of them. They alerted the police, who arrested the trio and identified them as Srinivasan (21), Nandakumar (21) and Yogeshwaran (23), all residents of Old Washermanpet area. 

Police said the gang was involved in many snatching cases on the Marina. 

Explaining their modus operandi, police said, the gang would look for people visiting the beach at night. They would target those sitting in poorly lit areas, threaten them at knife point and steal their mobile phones. 

Police later recovered five mobile phones from them and a search is on to arrest the remaining members of the gang.